26 Chapter 22 Oscar

Four Months later

It was early morning a Chen Jin was finishing his nightly meditation.

Since his seniors had graduated the time he previously spent just talking with them was now spent training, he still tried to go to Soto and have fun as Cao Desi requested. He ended up in the soul arena most of the time though.

He was now at level 29. Flenders and Zhao Wuji thought that was a terrifying speed of improvement, it was slow though, he did not spend much time meditating lately as he had absolutely no idea what to get for his third ring.

With how he got them he was worried that he would randomly condense it while he meditated someday so he prevented himself from reaching it.

Today he was going to ask to spar with the Vice Dean, it was originally supposed to be Flenders teaching day but he'd left a week ago to parts uncertain.

He suspected that he was going to the villages in the area of the city. It was around this time of the year that civilians had their spirits awakened after all, and from what he remembered from canon both Ma Hongjun and Oscar had been recruited just a while after awakening their spirits.

He doubted that they'd come to the academy like he did.

"Little Monster!" came Zhao Wuji's voice as he walked along the dirt path.

Chen Jin stopped and looked back "Morning!"

"Come with me, today we are sparing! It's been more than a week since last time you fought." Zhao Wuji's said seriously as he reached him.

Well, that was what he was going to ask so all was well, but he knew his vice Dean and just because it was what he wanted it didn't mean he wasn't going to call him out on his reason for the not quite suggestion.

"You're bored" Chen Jin said simply.

Nine times out of ten that was the reason after all. The other one being that he simply wanted to fight.

"I am" The burly man didn't deny. "And you improve too fast, I want to beat you up as much as possible while I still can".

Chen Jin rolled his eyes as he walked alongside him. At least he was honest about it.

"Get ready" The Vice Dean said as they reached their preferred sparing ground.

The greater part of Zhao Wuji's intentions at the moment might be beating him up, but he was a good teacher so it was no surprise what came out of that weird mix.

"We've all noticed that you're extremely inclined to completely rely on your soul power when fighting, now that you have ranged skills you're using your body even less, you just mix close range and long range skills as needed." he started.

"That's all well and good but you still need to be able to use your body in a fight, it might not be your focus but knowing how to is important. Expecially with a spirit like yours, while nothing like your completely ridiculous senses and spirit your physical strength is nothing to sneeze at"

Zhao Wuji was still not finished talking, but Chen Jin was already regretting leaving the bed today, he did not like were this was going.

"Because of that, and until both I and Flender are satisfied with your skill, we'll be sparing with no soul power, the only thing you need to do is get a feel of how to use your body"

He absolutely did not like were this went.

Zhao Wuji gained a mocking look at the end "You might be the biggest little monster that I've ever seen, especially in terms of spirit power control and self created techniques, but I've seen toddlers that use their body better".

The monster in question gained an affronted look "I'm not that bad!" Chen Jin said.

Zhao Wuji looked at him.

"You got rather good at closing and opening distance, dodging too, but the few times you tried to fight physically it was painful to look at"

Chen Jin sulked "It's not my fault that I dislike fighting physically, I've never trained it. My fighting style also won't require it"

Zhao Wuji crossed his arms "Do remind me who created a sword type spirit skill?"

"I have a bow too!"

"And last time I checked you were training to use it. Now don't whine, whether you want it or not this is going to happen".

Chen Jin did not enjoy the next few hours, he rather liked to be without bruises.

On the other hand Zhao Wuji was feeling great, the only thing missing was the skip in his steps.

They were walking side by side to the cafeteria, the smaller one moving and stretching his arms and back while the older one looked on in amusement.

"Zhao Wuji! Little Monster! Guess what I found!"

Chen Jin heard Flenders voice, he was standing in front of the cafeteria looking immensely pleased. It was as though he had won a million gold coins, the only times he seemed that happy was when money was involved.

"A gold card?" Zhao Wuji asked dubiously, it seemed like their minds had wandered through similar paths.

Flenders smile grew "Better".

Chen Jin looked at his Vice Dean at that, he was starting to get worried now, there were a precious few things that mattered more to Flenders than money, and he doubted he could find them on the ground.

Zhao Wuji seemed to share his worries because he was looking at him too.

The white haired child looked back at his headmaster "Did you perhaps... hit your head or something?" he asked with some hesitancy, his voice trailing off at the end.

The Vice Dean nodded at that, giving their now less than amused headmaster a worried look.

Flenders deadpanned at them. "There are things that I find more important than money..."

He sighed at their dubious looks.

"I'd been looking through the surrounding villages for talented students" he started.

"So you where trying to fool someone onto your pirate ship?" Chen Jin interjected. The twitch on Flenders face was heavenly.

The Dean ignored the interruption and continued "It's not easy to find people with soul power among commoners, with talent even less but one of the villages I went to hadn't awakened their spirits yet, so I offered to do it"

"All from the goodness of your heart?" It was Zhao Wuji who interrupted now.

Flender carried on "And there was someone there that had more than enough talent, in fact, I found Shao Xin a disciple. The most talented support type soul master I've seen, full innate spirit power" he looked proud again now.

Zhao Wuji looked dubious "You're not pulling my leg here are you?"

Chen Jin on the other hand briefly had realisation come to his face, it seemed that he was going to meet one of the Seven Devils today.

If he was not mistaken when Tang San and Xiao Wu joined Shrek at twelve Oscar was fourteen, so he was three years older. Good to know.

"The kids inside talking with Shao Xin now" Flender motioned to the cafeteria while rolling his eyes at Zhao Wuji's question.

"His name is Oscar"